And here’s the Mission Bay renderporn. Radar O’Reilly can already hear the choppers:

Click to expand

Here’s what the 183-bed UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital might look like. For the record, the naming rights went for $100,000,000:

You can see it on the right here:

Bon Courage, UCSF!

All the deets:

The University of California Board of Regents today unanimously approved funding plans for the new UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay. The board’s action is the final endorsement for the project, clearing the way for UCSF to break ground on a world-class hospital complex for children, women and cancer patients in the Mission Bay neighborhood, south of downtown San Francisco.

“The Regents’ approval is a major milestone for UCSF and for our family of supporters throughout the community,” said UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann. “It is hard to overstate the importance of the new medical center at Mission Bay, which will reinforce UCSF and the entire Bay Area as a hub of innovation, biotechnology and premier health care.”

After nearly a decade of planning, site preparations are underway on the 14.5-acre parcel of land. Construction of the 878,000-gross-square-foot hospital complex will begin on schedule in December 2010, shortly after required state permits are expected to be issued. Upon completion in 2014, the 289-bed facility will set a new standard for patient- and family-centered health care, safety, sustainability and translational medicine.

“Ten years ago, the UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay was a dream, but we are now ready to break ground and bring this vision to reality,” said Mark R. Laret, CEO of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. “The greatest legacy of the Regents’ decision to approve this new medical center will be the thousands of patient lives that are saved or improved because of the cutting-edge medical care that will be provided in these facilities.”